Narrative-Driven Research and Data (AKA Why Wes Prefers Qualitative Information to Quantitative Data)

It's In Our DNA

"Once upon a time..."

"In the beginning..."

"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."

Now be honest: Did one or more of the above set your mind on a narrative adventure? Could you see the fairy tale unfold before you, complete with dragons and castles? Were you transported to the beginning of the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth? Did you hear the opening fanfare as the title crawl invited you into the middle of an epic where a teenaged, back-country farm boy would save the entire universe from the grip of an evil, armor-plated warlock? 

There is a reason why this happens. We are hardwired to engage with stories. From our earliest moments to our dying breaths, humans are storytellers and story experiencers. Christopher Booker writes, "We spend a phenomenal amount of our lives following stories: telling them; listening to them; reading them; watching them being acted out on the television screen or in films or on a stage. They are far and away one of the most important features of our everyday existence."

Stories drive our lives, our societies, and our world. 

It should come as no surprise, then, that good researchers have been using stories in the form of narrative information and qualitative data to communicate for centuries. Qualitative analysis is extremely important within fields that are more interested in examining the "what" and "why" of a thing, issue, or situation as opposed to its "how." As Green and Browne point out, qualitative data is all about "the nature of a phenomenon," not its measurement. 

In this post, we're going to dive into three qualitative analysis studies on leadership and see how they used their methodology and results to communicate their findings to the reader. If you would rather, you can watch the below video post that presents the same information. 

Antigone: On Phronesis and How to Make Good and Timely Leadership Decisions

In this study, Alessia Contu seeks to put the ancient wisdom planted within this Greek tragedy in conversation with modern leadership theory and practice. Even in her opening sentences, she is already working to build a specific image of leadership within her readers' minds:

"When witnessing a controversial authoritarian leadership decision, do you speak out or stay silent? When in a position of authority, do you listen to others with an open mind? Do you allow yourself to be wrong and to change your mind?"

The qualitative analysis is immediately at play, inviting the reader to start creating an understanding of this phenomenon from the very beginning. This understanding is fleshed out and brought to life as she orients this conversation between Antigone and leadership around the idea of phronesis--the ability to make clear, rational decisions in crisis while also staying open to contrary feedback--and the process of hamartia/metanoia--sin and repentance. 

Bringing in recent scholarship and thought around the topics of leader bias, power dynamics, free speech, and leader/follower dissent, Contu compares/contrasts scenes and characters from the tragedy with the modern examples of Wells Fargo's administrative issues, countries' COVID responses, and the 2008 financial crisis. 

While she does not use the same verbiage, Contu ultimately concludes that phronesis and metanoia demand something very basic and yet crucial of the leader: humility. When faced with opposition, crisis, and even one's own bias, "good and right decision-making" is only an option for the humble leader. 

Chaplain Leadership During COVID-19: An International Expert Panel

Szilagyi et al. use this next study to ask, "What distinguishes hospital chaplains who were considered valued as integral leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic from those who were not perceived as leaders in their systems?" Quantitative analysis studies on the subject did not provide significant data for researchers to make rational conclusions, so they turned to qualitative data gathered from focus groups of expert panelists. 

These panelists--chaplains from all over the globe--were asked to prepare answers to these questions:

• What were the chaplain leadership factors, elements, or characteristics that stood out as having the most potential to shape (a) the integration of chaplains, and (b) the value of chaplains' contributions during the COVID-19 pandemic?
• What leadership actions did chaplains take--or could have taken--to promote the value of chaplain contributions and the integration of spiritual care and chaplaincy in health care during the pandemic?

During the panel, participants responded and discussed individual answers to these questions, raising issues or naming parallels to their own experience. Researchers compiled all of the data from the original answers and the resulting conversations and used a thematic approach to code all of the information into like categories. From this, they developed six distinct themes used to name and describe those chaplains who had managed to rise to the occasion:

1. Professional Confidence
2. Engaging and Trust-Building with Executives and Managers 
3. Decision-Making
4. Innovation and Creativity
5. Building Integrative and Trusting Connections with Colleagues
6. Promoting Cultural Competencies

As with other qualitative data analyses, this study helps the reader to paint a picture of what kind of hospital chaplain would emerge as a leader during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the picture that it paints... 

... is of a leader. 

Not all chaplains are meant to lead. Some work best from the side-lines and the background. While this means that many are undervalued and overlooked, it does not mean that what they are doing is any less important than the chaplains who thrive in leadership roles. This study shows that these six factors played a large role in identifying whether or not a chaplain had the necessary traits, skills, and/or behavior to emerge from the pandemic crisis as a recognized leader within the system. 

While this might sound like fairly simple reasoning, this is qualitative data used at its finest: through discussion, information mining, and cross-research, Szilagyi et al. have fleshed out and given life to a story that readers can engage, relate to, and experience in their contexts. 

Scoundrels: Navigating the Dark Sextad Plus Schema (DSPS) in Leadership and Executive Coaching Engagements

In this last study, Richard Kilburg seeks to answer the question, "Why are toxic individuals regularly selected and elected as leaders by people who should know better?" Kilburg is a coach for business executives and uses a case study of a senior VP of a large corporation trying to determine whether or not to hire from within for an important vacant position. It is clear from the beginning that there is something about this potential hire that does not sit well with her, but on paper, he looks like a model candidate. As Kilburg discusses the issue with her, it becomes clear that this candidate is toxic in some of the most dangerous, insidious of ways as he is able to move and manipulate whatever is necessary to ensure that he comes out ahead. 

This candidate is a perfect example of what Kilburg calls a "scoundrel," someone who embodies the perfect storm of the characteristics that comprise the "Dark Sextad":

• Narcissism
• Machiavellianism
• Physcopathy
• Power Orientation Self/Other
• Sadomasochism
• Charisma

The first three characteristics comprise the "Dark Triad," for which Kilburg provides extensive research references. The second half are what he contributes to the conversation, bringing in scholarship for each one and fitting it all into the puzzle that is this sort of toxic individual. He wraps up the schema description with the Taoist understanding of Yin and Yang, pointing out how all of these characteristics can be perfectly balanced within an individual to create the scoundrel.

"Dark Sextad" (Figure 1 from Kilburg, 2023)

By ordering his work this way, Kilburg paints a picture of each component characteristic and then places it within the larger schema, making it easy for the reader to understand and relate to his conclusions. Finally, he names the patterns of behavior that indicate such an individual and describes the type of culture/environment that fosters and supports them, ending with caution and advice on how to work with such a person when that is the only option available. 

Kilburg uses qualitative data to create an image that clarifies and supports the creation of this DSPS. For someone in a position like his, naming and describing the nature of phenomena like the scoundrel is essential. 

Build and Tell the Stories

We are, by our very created nature, storytellers and story experiencers. Academic researchers and professionals know this and utilize qualitative data regularly to help shape and communicate their work to the masses.

And they are by far not the only ones who do. 

Image by Marc Stevens from Pixabay

My sons both love to play Minecraft. Their favorite part of playing this game is not building ridiculously complex structures or discovering new part of the world or warping into secret dimensions. No, their favorite part of the game is at the end of their designated play time, when they get to tell Mom and Dad everything that they did and show us everything they built. They share their story with us, not bothering with a recounting of all of the amounts and types of resources used, but with picture of final product and a glimpse at the journey it took to get there. 

They do not know it, but they are using simple qualitative data analysis. It really is that easy. 

So what about you? How will you use this tool to describe the nature of the phenomena within your world? What story will you tell next?